Underdepression
by Zara Stardune
Summary: The underground is no longer safe for any monster, hope is a lost cause. Gangs are forming, resources are slowly dying away, war is spreading... Tragedy and loss are everywhere, what going to happen to the underground during this time?
1. Prologue

_"A human fell into the underground, strong, spirited, and DETERMINED. They spared most of the monsters that roamed around, but many were killed by the bloodlust deep inside of this human."_

 _"Once they left, the monsters were drained of their regained pride and happiness. They were running out of time, and running out of materials."_

 _"They were losing hope fast, but after a few months, One brother of a small snowy town called Snowdin stood up. He became the ruler of the underground. Using the materials left in the underground wisely."_

 _"The underground was steady again but monsters are starting to kill each other. If another human falls underground. Who knows what will happen to them. This world is already falling apart as we know it."_

 _-Sans_


	2. Chapter One

Sans closed the worn notebook that he had gotten from the Waterfall, sitting on a branch in a tree. He placed his pen and notebook in a bag and repeated what he wrote down in his own words. "The underground was plunged into depression, distrust, and disappointment. Toriel left the Ruins and tried to rule over the underground again. But the monsters didn't approve her new rules, she surrendered peacefully and headed back to the ruins. Next Papyrus decided to become the king, the king of the underworld. The underground is steady, maybe until another human falls down."

Sans sighed, he looked at the snow that was falling slowly to the ground. He jumped off the branch and headed toward Snowdin. It had been eight months since Frisk left the underground. Sans walked past the once happy bunny monster with her stuffed bunny. But now she had a black cloak on and she was holding it while sitting on a bench, looking at the doll blankly. Sans looked where the decorated Christmas tree once was, just white snow, an empty spot. Grillby's was worn down, the shop and inn weren't doing the best either. The once faint happy tune Sans could hear was now just bells in the background.

He looked where ice wolf had once worked, now it was just an automatic conveyor belt with a machine picking up the ice blocks and throwing them into the icy water. Sans walked back to the middle of town. A few monsters were sitting on benches, but most monsters stayed inside their houses, not caring anymore. _Everyone gave up once Asgore was killed._ Sans thought he was already depressed as it is. But the town he lived in wasn't helping. The only cheerful ones were the kids, and even sometimes they weren't happy at all. As Sans walked through Snowdin Forest, he was reminded of Frisk. The one human he thought that wouldn't kill anyone. _I wonder what was going through Frisk's head when they started this._ He thought, Papyrus, now being a king, no longer lives in Snowdin, and he's always busy. Sans hasn't seen him for awhile, only hearing about what his dear brother is doing every now and then. He sighed, being a king was what Papyrus wanted to do... To save the underground, but Sans still wanted his old naive personality back, the one that cheered him up and made him smile. Not the one that was unhappy and knows how dark the world actually is. Sans knew he couldn't go back if the kid hasn't reset yet, they never will.

Sans made his way to Snowdin Forest, and once he got there, he took a random pathway, while walking through the forest when he heard soft humming, he looked around, his eyes landed on a white and royal blue Phoenix he's never seen before. It seemed to be looking for something. "Hello?" Sans asked as he looked at the monster. "Hm? Oh hello." It said with a thick Australian accent. Sans then replied, "Hello, if I may ask, who are you?" The Phoenix looked at him. "You probably haven't seen me before. Well, I'm Shard, I live in a place not usually known to normal monsters." Sans nodded, "Well, Shard, what exactly are you doing?" Sans asked. "Well, young skeleton, I'm doing a favor for a friend of mine. I'm bringing some wood back to my home." Shard replied, picking up some logs. They seemed to be having trouble. "Maybe I could help?" Sans asked Shard nodded, "I needed some help with these logs anyway." Sans helped them pick up the logs and put it into the net beside her. "Alright, now that I have it loaded I need you to hold onto it so I can land there easily." Shard spread their wings and took off. Sans closed his eyes. It had been a while since he met someone who was friendly and easily comforting around him. Sans felt them gracefully land, and he sat up slightly.

"Alright we're here, c'mon don't be shy." Shard nudged Sans and he slid off. Around him was like an Aurora, The walls seemed to be glowing in smooth gigantic waves of purple, blue, and green against the wall. Sans was amazed by the sight, Shard seemed to notice and caught his attention. "Welcome to Crystal Cavern," She said. "Our ancestors here lived in the Arctic, they saw the Aurora there and when we were banished underground, they made this place us Winter Phoenixes call The Glowing Cavern." Shard paused before asking. "Oh, I forgot to ask! What's your name?" Sans replied with, "Sans, Sans the Skeleton. A sentry from Snowdin." Sans looked at Shard. "Oh! what a glorious name!" Shard exclaimed excitedly.

"Let me show you around, Sans." She said, leading Sans to the first area of Crystal Cavern leaving their footprints behind them. Sans saw different colored birds. In the area that they were in, birds were mining with their beaks. But they had some sort of steel shaped like their beaks, protecting it as they mined away at the rock, trying to retrieve crystals. Birds also had this weird pair of magnifying goggles that allowed them to see the Crystals better as they picked them up with their claws and examined them.

Shard walked over to one of the birds examining a purple, glowing crystal. He looked at her and put down the crystal. "Hello Shard, I see you've been busy. Who's your new friend there?" The male bird asked, he had pale blue feathers and the rest was white. His glowing blue eyes were like daggers cutting through your soul.

"His name is Sans, love, and he comes from a place called Snowdin!" Shard added, gleaming at the older male. "Hello, Sans! It's nice to meet you!" He said Sans waved back shyly. Shard noticed and said. "Hey, love! No need to act shy around him! His name is Mr. Gemstone, you can trust him!" Shard said urging Sans to greet Mr. Gemstone properly.

"He doesn't need to call me Mr. Gemstone, Shard, he can call me Adrianne." He said smiling at Sans softly. Sans chuckled, "It's nice to meet you, Adrianne. So, I want to know, how come we've never heard of you?" Sans asked. "Well, we had a little fight with the king and became, uh... rebels to them... That was more than forty years ago though. Even before the queen was around."

Adrianne said, looking at the pale pink crystal. "But I've heard things here and there. I'm not sure if it's true. But it seems reasonable." He said. Sans heard the bells ring. Saying it was time for sentry meet up. "Shard I need to leave, could you take me back?"  
Shard seemed to understand and nodded. She took Sans back and said goodbye.

Sans started his dull walk to Hotland, and once he got there, he headed toward the Castle. He saw some sentries already sitting in the meeting room. Sans entered calmly, he was small compared to all of them, most of them were six or six foot five. He sat down far away from the others. They glanced at him and looked away. He couldn't tell if it was in respect or disrespect. Sans waited until the next line of bells rang. Then he sat up, one of the sentries stood up and looked at all of them. "Alright, so I want all of you to report the daily activity in your area, starting with you." He said pointing to a monster. "Everything was normal other than some monsters trying to repair the core, sir." The sentry replied.

After some others talked. Sans heard someone whisper to the person beside him. "Isn't he a little puny to be a sentry?" Sans looked over and saw them looking at him. "Oh you must be new here, yeah, he isn't that talkative either. We don't even know if he has any real power, or if he was just chosen because he's the brother of our king, Papyrus." He looked away, they snickered and mocked him. Now he's not one to get mad. But judging him because of his height and purposely underestimating his strength? That pissed him off, his slammed his fist the table so hard that he cracked the table.

Then he looked at them with rage pulsing through his veins. "And who told you that it would be fine to judge others by their height? Or the fact that they hate talking to others? That they don't want to be a show-off?" He said giving them a death glare. They were all staring at him silently now with shocked faces. Sans managed to calm himself down and he left the room.

Sans walked back to his house, he got into his room and laid on his bed. "Why do I even try?" He mumbled to himself before closing his eyes.


	3. Chapter Two

Sans woke up to the morning bells telling him it was time for sentry duty. Sans sighed in frustration and got up. He walked out the house not bothering to eat anything. He didn't bother eating last night either, he just walked to his post and stood there. Sans thought about last night.

 _They don't understand what pain I've been through. I hate everyone in that damn place!_ He thought furiously, then he heard the break bells. He decided to walk back to Snowdin. As he was walking back, someone grabbed him and threw him into one of his posts. Before he could react, he was kicked in the ribs and thrown to the ground. A snapping noise echoed, Sans knew he broke a few ribs, he couldn't breathe very well. "You don't seem as tough as you were last night. What happened? Were you acting all tough even though you're a sissy?" One sentry said before kicking him in the ribs again. A sickening snap rang throughout Sans's body. He struggled to get up, and his attacker quickly kicked Sans's skull and the world went black...

 _"Hey Sans, do you remember that time when Papyrus made a pun on accident? That was hilarious wasn't it!" Frisk said as they lay their head on his lap, staring up at the Waterfall's "Star Crystals" as they called them. Sans looked down at her and grinned. "I remember the first time you made a pun," Sans said, "it was only a few months ago..." He said messing with Frisk's hair. Frisk sat up and hugged Sans._

 _Silence_

Sans awoke to being tied up, in a dark room. His head ached as if someone grabbed a hammer and threw it at his skull. He could barely breathe because of his broken ribs. Sans saw a light as someone opened a door. "So, you're still alive... Let's fix that shall we?" He grabbed one of Sans's ribs and broke it off. Sans screamed in pain, tears already starting to flow. "P-please stop..." Sans croaked weakly at his attacker. He looked at his attacker in the eye.

"Shut up you brat!" He cracked Sans's skull near his eye, he went blind in that eye as he screamed in pain again. "I want to hear that again but, LOUDER!" He said breaking another rib off but more forcefully. Sans screamed and cried in pain as the torture wore on. The pain was unbearable, his vision started to blur, the faint sound of snapping bones echoing in his ears... He was dying slowly as the monster tortured him to death. Sans lost all feeling in his ribs... Now he was just crying, each terrifying snap had finally ceased. He looked up at the man in pain, then he hung his head. Waiting for death to let him go, but in the corner of his blurred vision. Sans saw a monster attacking the others and talking. But it was faint, and Sans could only watch as the world faded around him. _Pap... I'm sorry..._

 _"Look, Sans, I created a snowman!" Papyrus exclaimed, Sans looks at it and smiles. "Good job Papyrus," Sans said crouching, then patted Papyrus's head. Papyrus smiled at his older brother and hugged him. Then Papyrus looked into Sans's eyes and asked. "Sans, are we ever going to get out of the underground?" Sans chuckled, "Sure we are Paps-... Promise you."_

 _Thump_

Wilhelmina was hiking with her parents and sibling. Rays of sunlight seeping through the leaves of the lush trees. Her family was chatting while she was the last in line. She didn't know how to get their attention. She was about to climb over a log when she heard a scream. She tried to listen for another, nothing happened so she shrugged and looked ahead of her. Her family was gone, and she was left behind. Wilhelmina heard another scream, snapping her head towards the noise. She decided to follow it. She ran to the sound, she stopped when she saw a huge hole. The scream was still echoing, she had to make a decision. Either jump or go back, she heard the legend about Mt. Ebbot, and Wilhelmina decided to jump. Falling into the darkness.

Wilhelmina awoke to loud clanking noises, she looked up and realized she was in a gray room with golden flowers. Wilhelmina got up and walked down the only hallway there was. She entered a room with a weird purple door and symbol. Wilhelmina saw seven statues, each one with a different colored heart shaped gemstone.  
There was one with a red gemstone with bright red flowers surrounding the dark gray statue. The one farthest to the left was an orange gemstone with orange flowers surrounding the statue. Then yellow, green, neon blue, blue, and purple. Wilhelmina read the signs underneath the each statue.

The red was "DETERMINATION" the orange one was "BRAVERY." The yellow one was "JUSTICE" the green one was "KINDNESS." The neon blue one was "PATIENCE" the blue one was "INTEGRITY." And the purple one was "PERSEVERANCE." The clanking was louder now. Then Wilhelmina heard a soft, but strict voice. "Another fallen child... Please follow me young one, I am Toriel, the lead miner in this mineral facility." Wilhelmina looked to her right and saw the figure with a soft smile, Toriel holding out her hand towards her. Wilhelmina looked at Toriel before accepting her hand, Toriel leads her to the next part of the Mining Facility.

Toriel ordered all of the men monsters that were working to stop. They all looked at Wilhelmina in shock, "Is that a human?" One asked, "What color is their soul?" Another asked. Toriel cleared her throat and said. "They may not be our kind, but you're all going to accept them. Whether you like it or not, you may think humans are evil. But I'll prove all of you wrong. We are not telling King Papyrus about her either. I'll take care of her, none of you have to worry about her."

Toriel leads Wilhelmina through the rest of the ruins until they came to a house. A tree was in front of it, blooming strange multi-colored flowers on its branches. Toriel leads her inside the house and down some stairs into a basement. She turned left down a corridor, leading Wilhelmina somewhere. She stopped at one of the doorways. Toriel looked down on her.

"This will be your room, my child until I can get you a better one." She said sadly, Wilhelmina looked into the dark room. The faded light of the lantern was helping her see a little of it. There was a bunk bed with neatly folded blankets on both the top and bottom. Toriel looked at Wilhelmina, then sighed as she closed the door. Wilhelmina decided to get in bed, she closed her eyes and drifted away from consciousness.


	4. Chapter Three

_What if they come back to kill Pap?_ _Sans sighed at the thought and let a few tears roll down his face. He wiped them with his sleeve and started out the door. The bright snow and chilly wind made him shiver. He looked back in his warm, dark house before Sans huffed and shut the door behind was walking toward his post. Looking around, he suddenly heard a noise, it sounded like bells, ringing slowly. Then, Sans felt something go through his body, it was painful. He fell to the ground, his vision getting blurry. All Sans heard were screams of pain and cries of agony. The world slowly started to fade out around him. His consciousness fading away as pain pulsed through him. His last thoughts as everything went black were... What's going on?_

Darkness, just darkness, a noise, and beeping noise? Breathing, he hears breathing, soft yet jagged breathing. Voices, someone is speaking, they're too faded to hear. Sans strained to open his eyes, he winced from the pain in his ribs as he opened his eye slowly. The bright light of the room blinded him.

Sans looked around, only to realize he wasn't able to see out of one eye. Then he wondered, _Why do I have pain in my ribs? Why can't I see out of one eye?_ He realized he had a breathing mask on, and that he was attached to an IV. Sans scanned his memories for any information on how he ended up like this. Nothing was there, not even a single trace of a memory related to Sans's condition. He sighed, not knowing what to do. It hurt to breathe, it hurt to move, he was blinded in one eye, and he was confused. Then Sans heard a faded voice. "Oh you're awake," A figure walked up to him. "You were injured, someone helped you, they dragged you here and gave you to me." Sans looked at them. It was Alphys, she still had her huge scar on her neck. The sight of it sent shivers down his spine, Sans didn't try to speak.

He didn't really know what was going on, but he obeyed as Alphys examined his body. "You know Sans, you were taken here with multiple broken bones, torn off limbs, and a huge crack in your skull. My question for you is, can you remember anything that happened?" Alphys asked, Sans, shook his head. She sighed, "Well it's probably for the best you don't remember..."

Sans nodded slowly, not wanting to remember the horror I must have experienced. Repeating the words in his head. _"Multiple broken bones, torn off limbs, and a huge crack in your skull."_ He looked up at Alphys, who looked a little nervous as usual. "S-sorry S-Sans, but I have to take m-my m-medicine, I-I'll be back." She walked off to wherever her pills were. Sans laid back down. Getting lost in thought, he started drifting off. Then he closed his eyes, forgetting the hardships of life.

 _"Hello Sans, I've brought you this pie to celebrate your birthday," Toriel said to him. "Thanks, Tori," Sans paused before speaking again. "just set it over there." He finished, before walking over to Papyrus. Papyrus was currently cooking spaghetti. "Hey Paps, how's it going?" Sans asked, his brother looked at him. "I'M FINE DEAR BROTHER! HOW ARE YOU?"_  
 _"Same old lazy pun-loving brother you know," Sans replied. "WELL, THE SPAGHETTI WELL BE READY SOON SANS," Papyrus said returning his focus on his spaghetti. Sans chuckled and saw Frisk. "Hey, Sans! I brought a gift for you." Frisk handed Sans a neatly wrapped gift, it was light blue wrapping paper with dark blue polka dots. "Heh, thanks, kiddo." Sans said ruffling her hair._

 _Then everything faded away into the black void of his memories_.

 _Thu-Thump_

Wilhelmina awoke to soft humming. She looked to her side to see Toriel softly humming while sewing, she was sitting in a chair. "Oh, you're awake, can you speak?" Wilhelmina shook her head and frowned slightly. Toriel looked at Wilhelmina. "Do you know sign language?" Toriel asked.

Wilhelmina shook her head again and looked down. "That's alright, I'll teach you. But for now, I have something for you." She said holding up a dress for Wilhelmina to see. "It was a little old and worn out so I fixed it up for you. Your clothes seemed to be ripped when I found you. So while I repair it, you'll wear this." Wilhelmina nodded and carefully took the dress. It had a symbol on it that she didn't understand. Purple, blue, and white were in a particular pattern with a dark purple cloak and black boots. Toriel walked out of the room, allowing Wilhelmina to change.

After she put the dress on, she took her torn clothing, her pastel yellow sweater, some jeans, a light brown jacket, and a pair of brown boots. Toriel waited outside, Wilhelmina brought her the clothing. Toriel smiled warmly, "My child, why don't you explore?" Wilhelmina nodded and wandered off. She heard a soft tune... It followed her, as if trying to get her attention. Wilhelmina hummed the tune she heard, looking at the ruins. Pillars, flower beds, trees, it was full of life.

A few days later, Toriel hacked away at the rock, then she heard the ruins' door open. Toriel looked to see Papyrus, with the winged design on his skull, he walked in, his cloak silently waving behind him. "Toriel, have you made any progress on the project I assigned you?." He said looking into her eyes. "I'm afraid to say that we're still working on it, King Papyrus, we're still trying to find material to keep it stable and the machine itself stable my king."

Papyrus sighed, "It must be finished soon, or more monsters will die." Toriel looked down in shame. All these monsters were depending on the workers in the ruins to finish the project and they're not even close to being done. "We'll try to finish it as soon as possible Papyrus..." Toriel finished, then she thought. _What am I going to do?_

At the end of the day, Toriel dismissed the workers back to their resting areas. Leaving her to get lost in thought, she looked at the unfinished project. _I don't know what to do... Papyrus is depending on us to finish the project..._ She thought, looking at the ruins. Then she heard soft footsteps, she turned around and saw Wilhelmina. Toriel bent down, "Hello my child, is something wrong?" She asked her. Wilhelmina signed something about hearing some weird noises. And that she was scared... Toriel hugged Wilhelmina, "It's going to be alright..." Even though she knew that it was most likely the opposite.  
"Just stay near the house, ok my dear?" Wilhelmina nodded and started to go back home. Toriel examined her unfinished project once more before following her. Heading to their home.


	5. Chapter Four

_Frisk had just gotten past Toriel, sparing her. She was not a part of the ones Frisk wanted. They were being given instructions, instructions to KILL specific monsters. The cold wind echoed, snow was crunching under their feet. They looked blankly ahead, there were Sans and Papyrus._

 _They stopped, looking at Papyrus and Sans. Sans looked at Frisk with sadness in his eyes, his eyes mostly focused on the knife clutched in their hand. They walked right by them like they were nothing, Sans tried to grab their sleeve. But they swiftly pulled away and glared at Sans before they started to walk away again, ignoring the pleading of Papyrus and Sans calling their name. Frisk took a quick look at the ice blocks gliding down the Snowdin river, heading to the core then they looked away, Frisk needed to concentrate on their task at hand._

 _They looked around the Waterfall, running into monster kid occasionally. They acted like an innocent, young, and naive human, they had a close call with Undyne more than once. Frisk smirked, knowing they were close to fighting Undyne. Soon, she came to the area where Undyne would challenge them. Frisk eyed her target carefully as she approached, still hiding the knife behind their back. They have been preparing for this timeline. Undyne was getting closer, this was the one timeline that mattered the most, where Frisk could do what they wanted. Undyne was getting ready to attack them, even though all of the ones controlling Frisk lost interest, they could still be controlled, but nobody bothers. Frisk quickly took out her knife, and so they took this opportunity and that's when they were given instructions..._

 _"KILL..."_

Papyrus started heading back to the castle, while going through Snowdin, he didn't see his brother at his post. He held up his hand as a signal to stop, he turned around and looked at his guards, "Sans is absent, have any of you seen him today?" Papyrus asked, his eyed fixed on them. "I haven't seen him today sir." One of them said, Papyrus scanned his surrounding and didn't see his brother. "You two go check on the other sentries, and look for him, I'll be fine." The two guards nodded and started to walk towards the other sentry posts nearby.

Papyrus continued walking to the castle by himself, walking past the echo flowers that now have multiple different colors. Red, blue, mostly rainbow colors. Bright, or dull, even white. Eventually, Papyrus made it to the end of the Waterfall. He sighed, looking at Hotland. He could feel the tension in this area, it seemed to have an eerie sense of hatred to it now. A soft breeze blowing the warm air around, the faint sound of steady clanking, and metal creaking.

Papyrus stayed quiet, he was approaching the castle. He walked by Alphys's lab, seeing that it was still in good shape. Monsters were sitting around, speaking in a whisper, or sitting quietly.

Papyrus wanted to help, that's the entire reason he became the king in the first place. After seeing all of the monsters suffering without a king or queen, he knew he had to do something. So he stood up and became the king of the Underground. Papyrus sighed, looking at the castle he was going to enter. Upon entering the castle, he was greeted by guards and maids. Papyrus knew they all missed Asgore dearly, but they tried to do their job like nothing was wrong. The golden flowers in the throne room now grew on the walls, vines grew on the throne as well. Papyrus didn't mind, he never liked to sit in it anyway.

"King Papyrus..." A voice broke the soft silence, it sounded like Alumina. Papyrus turned around to see his servant. "You should take a break, my king, it wouldn't hurt anyone." Papyrus looked at her, "Thank you for your concern Alumina... But I must attend my daily meetings with the sentries in a few hours. I have to prepare for it." He answered. Alumina looked down, nodded and walked away. That's not really what he was doing though, he headed to the library inside the castle. And took out a book with the title, "Underground Prophecies."

 _"Well..."_

Alphys opened a door, telling herself. "I-it's ok Alphys... J-just check o-on them, t-take your m-medicine, a-and then you c-can get b-back t-to him..." She walked inside and looked at the dark hallway. She could hear them pacing, their claws hitting the titled floor softly. Alphys followed the noise almost silently.

They noticed that Alphys was there and scampered over. "Alphys! How much longer do I have to stay hidden?" The creature asked Alphys. "Y-you have t-to s-stay here... Y-you can't g-go out t-there, i-if you d-do who knows w-what'll happen t-to you..." The creature sighed, "N-now I need to t-take my medicine..." Alphys slowly walked by them and turned down a hall. She took a pill bottle from a shelf and took two pills. "That's better..." She said before placing the pill bottle back on the shelf. Then she started to make her way back to Sans. She passed the creature again, who only watched silently as she passed by.

Alphys close the door quietly behind her, the soft noise echoing softly in the empty space. She walked back to where Sans was recovering. He was asleep, his chest slowly rising and falling. His breathing was shallow, Sans was lucky to get help when he did. It was a good thing that a monster had found him. What was their name? It didn't matter, the important thing is that he was alive. Alphys didn't know what exactly happened, but she did know that it was violent.

 _ **"It seems as if we might meet again soon..."**_

Wilhelmina looked around the ruins, many of the rooms were mining areas. With all honesty she was amazed by the sight, all of the machines, the plants. She was interested in all of it. Wil was already learning sign language, so she could communicate easily with Toriel. Wilhelmina walked by a few miners, seeing how they hacked away at the rock for precious minerals. Toriel had told her about how the underground needed materials for their new machines. She told her about Snowdin, the Waterfall, and even Hotland. Once Wilhelmina overheard Toriel talking about their king, king Papyrus. Wilhelmina being the curious girl she was, she started reading books about the monsters and their history. None of them had anything about Papyrus. She even asked Toriel once, Toriel told her they are not completely accurate.

But one day, while Wilhelmina was looking for something to read around the ruins, she found a book about souls. She opened it up and found different types of souls, she read, "Human souls can be summoned by monsters." Wilhelmina got excited, she ran to Toriel and politely tugged on her skirt. Toriel looked down at her, "What is it, my child?" She asked, Wilhelmina gladly pointed to the book she was reading. "Oh, you'd like me to summon your soul?" Toriel asked, Wilhelmina, nodded. Toriel crouched down to Wilhelmina's height, Toriel put her hands out, her palms facing up. At first, Wilhelmina was confused, but then, she heard a noise. Wilhelmina looked in front of her, to see a soul that was not smooth like the others. It seemed to resemble a crystal. Toriel seemed to be shocked, "Just like the old prophecy..." She said, Wilhelmina, titled her head to the side. "The prophecy that involved a crystal soul... 'A small one who lacks a voice, will have the soul of hope. Their fate will be decided by one...'" Wilhelmina seemed to be shocked, but she nodded, understanding what this means.

 _ **"Your journey has just started..."**_


	6. Chapter Five

Alphys sighed, she felt so useless, she's made so many mistakes. Undyne... Mettaton... Asgore...all three of them died, along with many others. She looked at Sans, he and his brother have been through so much... Sans and Papyrus were separated as kids, mostly because Sans was taken away from his brother. Alphys didn't know why, but it must've been for a good reason. Later they found each other again, being happy and naive brothers. Then the human came and ruined it for them, once again Sans and Papyrus were separated by reality. Papyrus became the king, Sans was still a sentry.

Then there was an odd shock wave, it caused a change in monsters and in the underground. It was odd, before it happened the surviving monsters said that right before the shock wave they heard bells ringing. Alphys did look into it, and she found nothing related to what happened. She looked at Sans again, he seemed to know more than what he said. His parents were unknown... Alphys still wanted to know who they are, but she might never know. She walked over and pulled Sans's data out. _Sans, Age: Unknown, Gender: Male, Data: Doesn't like talking to strangers, seems to know more than he lets on, taken away from his brother for an unknown reason, his past is a mystery to us, for he never talks about his parents or his childhood._ Alphys sighed, who would know about his past, Alphys doesn't know much about Papyrus either.

"Maybe I should try to figure things out by myself..." Alphys said to herself. She walked back to the door and went inside. They looked at her, then continued to lay down and rest. Alphys walked past, looking for her research books. The creature got up and followed her, she didn't mind. She knew the creature was lonely only being able to stay here.

They suddenly ran in front of her and started pawing at something. Alphys was confused but walked over, they were pawing at a wall. Alphys touched it, only to find a door open. It seemed to be a house within the lab. It was obvious that it hasn't been touched for years... Looking around, Alphys saw a smashed picture, the glass was scattered on the floor and on the floor. She picked it up carefully brushing the glass off. She saw three skeletons, she realized it was Papyrus, Sans, and... Gaster? The creature walked over to her, they studied the picture. Alphys was shocked, "Sans and Papyrus's father was Gaster? Why would they keep that to themselves?" Alphys shivered, she put the picture back down. And looked at the creature, who looked back at her. Alphys nodded and they scampered away. She sighed, then walked back into the lab, she walked toward a small area with books.

She picked out a few and started flipping through them. Alphys didn't know how she'd figure anything out. She turned the page and found some information on how to collect memories of monsters and humans and see them yourself. Reading more, it said it may affect the memories and the condition of the monster or human. _I have I'll have to take that risk, without it, I'll never be able to help him._ Alphys read on, it only needed to scan him with some sort of radiation, take a copy of the memories, and a machine to form those stored memories. She closed the book, picking it up. Alphys walked past the creature who now was trying to fall asleep. Alphys quietly shut the door and walked over to Sans. _Hopefully, he's in a fair condition, I don't want to hurt him._ Alphys quickly built the machine, putting the needed parts together. Then she walked over to Sans, praying this would work and nothing would go wrong. She scanned Sans's memories for a few minutes, getting the data she wanted. Sans seemed to stir slightly, but he didn't wake up.

Alphys started to put the machine together in the lab, every once in awhile she heard a dripping sound that broke through the unsteady silence. She looked at the instructions, the structure was simple on the outside. But it would be many days and nights before she finished, specific wires had to be placed in the correct area and connected to the right things. A device would be connected to it that would turn the collected memories into an orb that would activate the memories to play inside her head every time she touched it. Alphys knew that this was a fatal decision. Then she realized it's been hours since she checked on Sans. She quickly ran to him, his heart rate was dangerously low. "NONONONO I MESSED UP AGAIN!"

 _ **"But I wonder how you'll react..."**_

Sans felt like he couldn't breathe, he could feel life slipping away from him. _"My life has come to an end, hasn't it... Papyrus... Alphys... my friends... I might leave you soon..."_ He felt his heartbeat, it was slow, he could feel a tingling feeling. _"Am I starting to turn to dust yet?..."_ He knew that this process would be slow and painful. Sans felt the pain, it was if his whole body was rejecting itself. _"I'm so close to the end... I never even thought twice about my life ending early. I guess I was wrong..."_ His entire body was in severe pain, at this point Sans knew that it was impossible to breathe. He tried to get his body back to normal over and over. But over-working his body only made himself fatigued and the pain worse. _"It can't end! What about Papyrus?! After I left him for so long with HIM! I CAN'T DIE YET! PLEASE DON'T LET ME DIE! I CAN'T GIVE UP! I can't... I just can't... I... Can't... I... C A N ' T . . ."_ Suddenly he felt a wave of warmth, the pain faded slightly. He felt a weirdly familiar feeling, then Sans heard a voice. _"You're filled with..._  
 _. . ."_

 _ **"To what I am now..."**_

She had no choice, she was running out of time. Nothing else could've been done, it was her only option. Alphys had just injected DETERMINATION into Sans. _What have I done?! He'll end up like the others! This was a horrible idea!_ She backed into a wall and slowly slid down. Alphys felt tears forming, _I'm so stupid! I made the same mistake... I should've never become the royal scientist... Oh god, what have I done?_ She started shaking, she looked at her hands. _I've only made mistakes... I'm a horrible monster..._ Alphys felt the tears start to stream down her face. She got up wiping her tears she walked back over to Sans. Alphys sighed, "G-god I'm sorry Sans, I messed up again. I hate myself, I hate my mistakes, I hate t-the fact I-I p-probably just r-ruined your l-life... I-it w-was a s-stupid de-decision to m-make..." She looked down, the tears blurring her vision. "I-I've made a-a huge m-mistake..." Then she heard coughing, she looked up to see Sans coughing up blood in his sleep. _"Oh god, what do I do?!"_ She starting shaking, even more, her mind was blank, she could barely stand.

Alphys let her legs collapse, she didn't want to see her friend turn into one of THEM. She couldn't bear to see another one turn into THAT. It would be worse since she used a larger dose. _GET UP! YOU CAN'T JUST SIT THERE FEELING SORRY FOR YOURSELF JUST BECAUSE YOU MADE ANOTHER MISTAKE! HE NEEDS HELP! AND YOU CAN DO SOMETHING, BE THERE FOR HIM!_ Alphys forced herself to get up and used the bed to support herself. The tears were still slightly blurring her vision. She saw Sans, he was obviously unstable and in pain. He was still coughing up blood, but his body seemed to be changing. _Is it adjusting to the DETERMINATION?_ She asked herself, Sans started to stir, he was taller and the fur on his hood was flaring out. The determination it was radiating off must've changed him and things around him... He finally woke up, but he didn't sit up, all he did was look around. Alphys's throat was dry, but she still spoke. "S-Sans?" She asked quietly.


	7. Chapter Six

"King Papyrus... You need to sleep." Papyrus looked up to see another servant. "How late is it?" Papyrus asked, "It almost ten o'clock." She replied, Papyrus looked down and then back at her. "Thank you, I shall rest." With that, he walked to his bedroom. Papyrus was worried about his brother, separated as children, and... His thoughts stopped there, Papyrus laid down. He sighed, "Sans... Where are you? I need to find you..." Papyrus closed his eyes, trying to ease his racing thoughts. He found it very uncomfortable, knowing he was sleeping and his brother was missing... "Just go to sleep... You'll be able to think straight later." Papyrus kept his eyes closed, slowly easing his thoughts, and drifting away from the world around him. Somewhere where he could rest peacefully, no stress, no violence... Nothing to bother him.

 _Papyrus heard voices, he cautiously turned a corner to see Gaster, his father, yelling at someone dressed in armor. He backed up a little frightened, then ran to the room Sans was in. "Sans?" He said, his brother, who looked slightly nervous and skittish, looked at him. "Yeah, Pap?" Papyrus looked into his brother's eyes before saying, "Someone is talking to dad... He's yelling at them..." Sans's pinpricks dilated, "O-oh no..." Sans's expression quickly turned to one filled with fear and shock. Papyrus was confused, what's going on? "Sans, what-" he was interrupted by the monster barging into the room. "IT'S THE LAW DR. GASTER!" Their father quickly followed in, "YOU CAN'T JUST TAKE MY SON AWAY! Please, you can't take him from me! His brother and I need him!" He claimed, "I'm sorry but it's the rules," The monster scanned the room and his eyes landed on Sans, "There you are..." He said before walking up to Sans. Papyrus watched helplessly as his brother backed up a bit. The monster looked back Gaster, who was gritting his teeth. "The laws are the laws and I have been given orders, Gaster." The monster said before grabbing Sans, who started to struggle. "Wait! Please don't take me! I don't want to leave my family!" Sans said as the guard started to drag Sans out of the room. Papyrus looked at his brother, eyes filled with fear. He was so confused and frightened by the monster's sudden actions, what was going on? Why were they taking Sans?! He tried to run to his brother, but Gaster was restraining him. "Sans!" Papyrus called out, he could tell his father was also holding himself back. "Dad?!" Sans called, tears forming in his eye-sockets, "DAD?! PAPYRUS?! PLEASE DON'T LET THEM TAKE ME!" Papyrus started to tremble as he saw the tears stream down Sans's face while he was pleading. "LET ME GO! PLEASE, YOU CAN'T TAKE ME AWAY!" They were almost out of sight. "DAD! PAPYRUS! HELP! PLEASE! I DON'T WANT TO LEAVE! LET ME GO MY FAMILY NEEDS ME!"Sans's pinpricks were frantically scanning his father and his for even a little hope of escape. With one last plea, that he could choke out as he lost his will to fight. Sans uttered a few words in a last attempt to get Gaster to stop the guard. "Please... don't..." With that, the monster lifted Sans up by the back of his hood. Fear and sadness staining Sans's face while he stared into the eyes of the monster. With a quick scoff, the guard swiftly gave Sans a quick whack to the head, knocking him out. The monster, showing no sympathy, forcefully opening the lab door, dragged his unconscious brother and himself outside, then shut it. Gaster was holding Papyrus close, "I'm so sorry Papyrus... But Sans will be taken away for a while..." Papyrus knew he was crying, but he looked up at his father, tiny tears forming as he asked. "Dad, why did they take Sans away?" Gaster hugged Papyrus close, "They need more royal guards, if the humans attack, we'll need all the soldiers we can get. So their best plan was to train children to be royal guards. So they could adjust easier to the harsh environment." Papyrus buried his head in his father's lab coat, he loved his brother, and he was torn away from him so easily..._

 _ **"Maybe you'll be shocked"**_

Sans vision was blurry, _What happened?_ He thought as he sat up, when his vision came into focus. Sans saw Alphys staring at him. She seemed to be confused and shocked. "A-are you ok?" Alphys suddenly asked after sitting in the silence, Sans took off his breathing mask. "Yeah, I'm fine... Why are you asking?..." Alphys seemed to hesitate before telling him, "I-I had t-to inject you w-with d-determination... I-I had no c-choice, it w-was either t-that or y-you would've d-died..." She said, looking down. Sans a headache got worse, "Ach..." He grunted before laying back down. "A-are you o-ok?!" Alphys asked, Sans, nodded, "I just have a headache..." He said, Alphys sighed. "I'll e-explain to you w-what happened later, f-for now, g-get some rest... I-I'll check on you l-later." Alphys said as she wandered away. Sans closed his eyes, then he sighed, rolling over. Trying to sleep. Bothersome thoughts swam in the endless void of his mind, the ones that kept him awake at night. Sans's head wouldn't stop throbbing as the thoughts continued to nag him, they wanted something from him. He sighed and tried to remember why, his memories turned into a mess of faded voices and a faint feeling of warmth. But he didn't like the words the faded disembodied voice spoke. _"Can you remember? Sans, can you remember? Are you listening to me?..."_ after the voice stopped, a wave of cold air washed over his body. Sans shivered and let himself drift away despite the bitter air stinging his wounds. It felt... Empty...

 _"Maybe you won't recognize me"_

Toriel was laying in her bed, staring at the ceiling. Thinking about the children that lost their lives, because she couldn't protect them. She couldn't get a thought out of her head, _"If another human shows up... Will I be able to protect them?... It obvious there was no way to protect the last one, their fate was not my decision... Hopefully, I can protect Wilhelmina from the same fate as the others..."_ A door creaked open and Toriel sat up, looking at the person at the door. "Toriel?" The person saw Toriel, fear in their eyes. "I've come to tell you... Wilhelmina is gone..." Toriel immediately snapped out of bed, "What?! What do you mean?!" Toriel exclaimed, he sighed. "I mean, she's gone, she left, I was going downstairs to make sure everyone was in their beds... And the ruins' door was opened wide enough for her to get out..." Toriel felt tears form in her eyes, "I-I can't e-even save o-one child..." Toriel broke into a sob, the worker hurried over to her, trying his best to comfort her...

 _"..."_

Alphys hands were shaking in fear, _I almost killed him, oh my Asgore I'm a huge mess..._ The creature looked at Alphys. "Alphys... I think h-" they cut themselves off and became silent. Alphys didn't really care, she started to get a headache, "I-I'm going to rest..." Alphys told the creature before starting to walk out the lab door. Slowly making her way up the stairs and into her messy room, Alphys groaned in pain as the headache only got worse. She carefully laid herself down in her bed, and closed her eyes. Attempting to soothe the throbbing of her head, Alphys sighed and tried to clear her thoughts. She knew she wouldn't fall asleep, but at least resting her eyes helped.


	8. Chapter Seven

_Sans awoke, he looked around the area to find it wasn't his home. Sans bolted up, what happened? Where is he? The room was dark with a dimly lit lantern, a shiver ran up his spine when he remembered what was going on. "I...was taken from my family... By a guard." Sans got out of the bed and decided to look around, there was a rusty knife on top of a desk, which was also covered with files. He read over a few words and found that they were names. He heard a clanking noise and quickly turned around to check if anyone was there. Sans didn't see anything in the poorly lit room. "You're awake," A being walked into the room, their footsteps echoing. "So, Sans, how are you feeling?" Sans squinted at them to see if he could get a better view of them. "Hmm, I see that you are weary of my presence. Don't fear, I am merely here to make sure you are ok." Sans slowly nodded at her, she smiled at him. "I am Ms. Hermosa, but please, just call me Hermosa. I will show you around, follow me, Sans." She turned around and started to walk out of the room. Sans cautiously followed her, he entered what he guessed was the main area. Children were being ordered around by some woman with pastel green hair that was tied up, white scales, muscular body, two ear piercings with golden ear rings, a camo hat, many dark colored bracelets around her wrists, a dark grey tank top, ripped light blue jeans, and black flat heel boots with metal soles. She was a sea monster, Sans paused and watched as she ordered the group around. Hermosa got his attention as she said, "Impressive, isn't she? That's going to be your main trainer, I promise she isn't that bad if you don't get on her bad side. Mostly, I think she's friendly." Hermosa gestured for Sans to follow her as she entered another part of the base. "This is where you'll be resting, now I know..." Then her voice faded out, Sans's thoughts were racing._

 _Where am I? I really need to get out of here, but it's obvious they don't want me leaving them at all... What would happen if I tried leaving? Would they punish me? Probably, but I need to get back to my father and brother! "Sans? Sans!" His attention snapped back to Hermosa, "I have a change of clothes for you, take them." She held out a change of clothes for him, "I will take the ones you're wearing once you've changed." Sans took them, but had a troubled look on his face. "What will happen to them?" Hermosa frowned, "Nothing bad will happen to them, but you need to wear the ones I gave you." Sans sighed, holding the new clothes close. Hermosa pet his head, in an attempt to comfort him, then showed him to his room. There were many bunk beds, "You will get this one," she said pointing to one," don't worry, you'll be fine. Ms. Reasver will come get you in a minute" Hermosa smiled before she left. He quickly changed and waited there. The sea monster from earlier came in a few minutes later which he was guessing was Ms. Reasver, "Hey newbie, come with me." Sans hesitantly followed her. "Look, I'm here to train you, and you're here to listen and obey, if I find you breaking the rules there will be a punishment. Now, go over there with the others." She said pointing to the group, Sans walked over and stood beside them. They were standing quietly, waiting for her return. Once she came back, she stood in front of them. "Alright, I'm going to assign you all into your own sections. Each of you will be training alone with own personal teacher. I'm your main trainer. With your personal trainer and teacher, they will study what you are good at and what you need to work on. Now, as your main trainer, I will test you on many different subjects your teacher will tell you about. But I'm going to explain the sched-"_

 _Sans sighed, this seemed so off... He doesn't know where he is, what he's doing, barely anything. Now he's getting thrown into training? He needs to get back to his family! Not stay here and get trained by someone he doesn't know... "-Now I'm going to assign you to you your trainers."_  
 _Sans froze, what did he miss? He zoned out again, Sans looked up at the main trainer, who was assigning kids their teacher, she walked up to him and told him. "Ms. Camaveras will be your teacher, she will walk up to you. She is wearing a white, fluffy coat with her hair in a bun, good luck newbie." Sans nodded as she talked to the next monster, a few minutes later Ms. Reasver "Alright everyone, your personal trainers are here." Sans looked up, teachers were walking out from a hallway, he scanned all of them for a white coat. He caught sight of a woman with her hair in a bun. She saw him, and smiled, walking over. "You must be Sans, I'm Ms. Camaveras."_

 _"He's nearby..."_

Wilhelmina walked around in the snow, her eyes filled with wonder. The small snowflakes falling slowly. She giggled and spun around, this is so amazing! The world beyond the ruins' door was wonderful, she soon came to a bridge. Tilting her head in curiosity, she walked up to it. The bridge had a barricade, but not a very good one, it was too wide and it was falling apart. Wilhelmina made sure the bridge was stable enough to cross, then she cautiously walked over. There were bells ringing faintly in the distance. She shivered at the soft sounds, she looked around and saw someone sitting on a bench. Holding a stuffed animal in their arms. Wilhelmina walked over, the figure looked up. "A human?" It asked, it was a bunny, she had a black cloak, white fur with black swirled marking on it, and purple eyes. Wilhelmina blinked before pointing to the plushie. The bunny looked down at it, and then back up. "Oh, the plush? It was a gift from someone very patient I knew..." Wilhelmina smiled softly, the bunny smiled back. "You better be off," her smiled faltered, "the monsters around here want humans dead. And there are rumors of monsters killing others. Please be careful." Wilhelmina nodded and walked away, there were buildings. An Inn, a shop, a place called Grillby's that was next to a clock tower, and a house not too far away from it. Curious, she walked closer, it had Christmas lights that were ruined, and a faint glow came from the inside. Wilhelmina wanted to go inside and escape the cold which was now starting to bother her. But that would be intruding, she bit her lip and tried to think of another option she had, while keeping the bunny lady's words in mind. Wilhelmina couldn't think of anything else, she couldn't go back to the ruins' or Toriel would never let her out again. Wilhelmina decided to take a peek inside if it wasn't locked, she carefully placed her hand on the doorknob and slowly opened it ever so slightly. It was a little messy, a TV with a giant hole in it, sending sharp, jagged cracks through the screen. She looked over to her left, there was a dark green, worn out couch. It had a few bloodstains on it, but nothing much. Wilhelmina opened the door a little more, looking over to her right. There was a badly lit kitchen, next to the kitchen, there was a table, with bloody bandages, ointments, and fresh bandages sitting on it. One chair on the far end was knocked over on its side, the other closest to her was standing upright. Wilhelmina looked back into the kitchen area, the counters were mostly clean, but knives and plates were left out. Along with what seemed to be ketchup bottles, one laying on its side, the other two were upright.

Wilhelmina was about to examine the room more when she heard voices. "Hey, have you heard about the human living in the ruins? I heard about it from one of Toriel's workers." Wilhelmina froze, "Yeah I have! If I even catch that human, I'm crushing them and keeping their soul to myself!" Another said, "Hey, let's not get greedy here, were a gang, we'll share their magic." Wilhelmina quickly got inside and shut the door as the voices got closer. "That's a good idea Hamster Punk, I'll start looking for it!" They were the sounds of footsteps and some laughter. "Yeah, always the most enthusiastic about everything aren't they?" The other one hummed in agreement before they walked away. Wilhelmina's heart was pounding, people knew about her? She needed to stay hidden for now, until they quiet down. Wilhelmina backed away from the door and looked around. Noticing the blue carpet was torn in many places, there was a tattered and torn book on a small, round table, her eyes landed on some stairs. She slowly walked up to them, not knowing if anyone was here. With her heart pounding, she crept up the stairs as quietly as she could. Once she got to the top, she saw two doors. She went to the one that was closer and tried to open it, it was locked. So she walked over to the next door and tried opening it, it opened easily. Looking inside, Wilhelmina saw a very messy room. The smell of ketchup was all over it, there was a messy and unmade bed with a blanket on it, with a window above it. Then there was a pile of clothes, she walked over to it. It had basketball shorts, socks, a blue jacket, white sweaters, and a pair of pink slippers. She decided not to look through it and walked over to a desk in the corner just opposite of the bed. It had a small lamp, papers, open drawers, a chair, crumpled up papers scattered around, and...some keys? She picked up the keys and examined them, it had three keys on it. Wilhelmina remembered the locked door next to this room and exited the room, walking over to it. Looking at the knob, it had a keyhole. She tried to put the first key in, it didn't work, the next one almost worked, but it didn't completely fit. She looked at the last one, hoping it'd work. Sighing, she put the last one in, it fit. She turned the key, unlocking the door and opening it. To her surprise, it was nothing like the other room. It was neat, but very dusty, it had a race car bed, a table with figurines on it, a box of bones in one corner, a purple rug with flames on the edges of it, a pirate flag hung on the wall with papers pinned beneath it. A large bookshelf with many books in it, a door that was probably to a closet, and a computer sitting on a desk with a window behind it. _I wonder why this room was locked up..._ Wilhelmina thought to herself, she shrugged it off and walked out, locking the door behind her. Then she headed to the room beside it and placed the keys back on the desk. Wilhelmina didn't know what to do, she looked up at the ceiling and sighed. She started to feel tired, she couldn't leave. She looked behind her, heading out the door and leaned on a wall in the corner, she suddenly felt dizzy. But before she could get herself somewhere else she started to fade into unconsciousness. She collapsed to the floor and everything became darker and fuzzy, then she blacked out.


	9. Chapter Eight

Sans awoke to darkness, _It's probably midnight..._ he thought, rolling over. He didn't feel sleepy, but he didn't feel like getting up. He could see a little bit of the dark room that was cloaked in shadows. He closed his eyes again, trying to fall back to sleep despite not really feeling tired. Sans didn't really want to deal with Alphys lecturing him about walking around while he was healing. But something started nagging at him, telling him to get up. He sighed, and sat up, looking over the dark place. He got off of the bed, and let his eyes adjust to the darkness a bit better before walking around. When he got near the entrance area, he heard something that sounded like scratching. Sans didn't exactly know where it was coming from, he tried to listen, but it stopped shortly after his footsteps ceased. He decided he'd better go back before Alphys wakes up, he started heading back when he heard a whine. Sans turned around, it was coming from inside the walls. But how was that possible? Another whine echoed, he examined the room for an entrance of some sort. He saw a door, it looked like it was supposed to be a bathroom, but he walked over to it. The scratching was louder, he stopped in front of it, it whined again, then he heard footsteps, Sans waited until they were gone before slowly opening the door a little. It wasn't a bathroom at all, and he knew what this place was. It was the old secret lab, he looked around, hearing dripping noises. He was surprised that they didn't destroy this place after Gaster disappeared. Sans started exploring the area, having memories of his family, before it was torn apart. He was trying to remember where the hidden house was located. He knew it was somewhere around here, there were all of the entries up on the walls, some of the screens were shattered. Spider webs were in almost any corner, water was leaking from cracks in the ceilings and walls, the more he walked around, the more depressed he felt... The realization that the underground was really falling apart hit him, this place was old, it could collapse at any moment. When he came to a room with many worn beds in it. A few were missing blankets, others pillows, some having only the sheet, and the rest were bare.

Sans sighed, trying to find what was scratching at the door, he came across some open books that were left out, but he didn't bother reading them. Walking around for a little longer, studying the cracks in the wall, he came to one wall that had faded claw markings scratched on it. He carefully placed his hand on the wall, it opened up to show the old house. Sans's eyes widened at the sight, he hadn't been here in years, it was a mess. The wallpaper was slowly rotting off of the walls, the one soft chair Sans used to sit in was torn and it was on its side. Papers and many books with pages ripped out were scattered across the floor. Sans took a few step forward and heard a crunch from under his foot, he looked down and saw an old picture of Gaster, Papyrus, and himself. Sans took his foot off of the photo and crouched down, carefully picking it up and brushing off broken shards of glass. Gaster was hugging Sans and Papyrus with a warm smile on his face, Papyrus had his eyes closed while he was tightly hugging Gaster, and Sans was looking at the camera with a cheerful smile. He sighed sadly at the photo, he missed those days, when he didn't have to worry... Sans stood up and took the photo out of the broken frame, he placed the photo in his pocket and walked into the kitchen. Stains were splattered on the walls, Sans found some old pots and pans lying around on the ground or on the counters, and some of the cabinets were open. He walked back into the main room and walked into the workroom.

A computer monitor with a crack in the screen sat on the desk with a keyboard in front of it, the keyboard was dusty, but it had no keys missing. Beside the monitor, there was a sloppy stack of papers, and some of the papers were littered around on the desk in random places. Sans looked to his right and saw a filing cabinet, he walked over to it. It had three cabinets total, the bottom one was open and some of the files had been taken out, now on the floor, the rest sat in the cabinet in a disorganized pile. He opened the middle cabinet to find it was empty, with only a sticky note that said, "Missing." Sans opened the last one and found the names of monsters he recognized, he took a random file out. Sans saw that it was his, his eyes widened, he opened it to find it all scribbled out in pen, his age, his description, his birth date, his height, his weight, and even his guardian was crossed out. Sans put his back and grabbed another one, it was Ms. Hermosa's, he opened it and found no serious information on her. He wondered if she was doing ok even to this day, he hadn't seen her since... Sans closed the file and put it back, closing the top filing cabinet and walking into the hallway. It was dark, the emergency light was busted, he walked through the dark, the light of his father's lab was his only lead. That was when a low growl emitted from somewhere nearby, and he heard a familiar voice. "You showed me here! Where's Sans?" It was Alphys, he didn't know how to react, he walked back toward the workroom cautiously, when he heard something loud barrelling towards him. Sans jumped back in alarm when an odd creature tried to ram into him, it hissed when it hit the wall and shook its head. He stepped back when it made eye contact with him, despite the darkness, it glowed like echo flowers in a multi-color pattern. Red, orange, yellow, green, light blue, royal blue, purple, and pink cut through the darkness. It had eight eyes, all a different color, its body appeared to be black, it had some sort of circular tank on its chest, storing something that was the colors from red to light blue, the outside surrounding it was royal blue. It had pink claws, a black tail with a spiked pink end, and on its side, there were two tubes on either side holding purple liquid that had claws that dripped the purple substance at the end.

The creature's claws slashed at Sans, getting his chest and his forehead, it stung worse than any normal wound. He stumbled backward and cupped a hand over his chest wound, using his other hand to balance himself, he looked up at the beast. It growled lowly and struck at his head again, Sans swiftly dodged, but it made the pain worse, he groaned and saw the light from the lab. The creature struck again and he blocked with his arm, he felt the substance getting poured into his veins, Sans growled and acted quickly, he kicked it away and took a sprint to the lab. It followed, he got inside and collapsed from the pain, the poison had taken effect quickly. The creature picked him up, he felt bone marrow start to escape his mouth. It turned him so that he would be looking directly into its eyes. Sans struggled in its grip as he held him there, the poison was starting to make him dizzy. The creature threw him into a wall, he was winded from the impact. Sans lay there as the creature approached him, he tried to catch his breath, his body was burning, but he needed to get away. It growled and whacked him sideways, causing him to gasp in pain. He tried to get up, heaving from exhaustion. Sans managed to get to his feet and stumbled away, barely dodging its attacks. He got out of the lab and gathered enough strength to run down the hallway, he ran into the main room and saw Alphys. She seemed like she had been knocked out, Sans quickly picked her up and ran into the true lab, hearing the creature running after him. The poison was starting to affect the way he walked, he tried to focus on finding a way out. Finally, he found the exit, he felt something stab him in the back, he cried out in pain as it lodged in his ribs. Sans fell to the ground, Alphys awoke, "Sans?! A-are you ok?!" Sans realized she still had a chance. "Alphys! Get something to knock this creature out, don't let it touch you!" Alphys got to her feet and scrambled away, leaving Sans to deal with the pain of distracting this thing alone. He dragged himself over to a wall and used it to help himself get up. It stared daggers at him as he moved, but it made no move. Sans wiped some blood away from his face. The creature turned and ran for where Alphys went, he wanted to help her, but his strength was gone. Sans let himself fall, he lay on the floor, everything hurt. His vision was getting blurry, he was starting to feel cold, his eyes closed. Soon after, he lost his consciousness. He could hear echoing footsteps, whoever it was he heard light breathing, arms wrapped around him and lifted him off the ground someone picked him up...

 _..._

Wilhelmina awoke to the sound of creaking, she wondered how long she had been out. She carefully peeked over to the entrance and saw someone carrying something, Wilhelmina stayed quiet, watching as they placed a body on the couch, then they stopped for a moment. They looked directly at her, she flinched, then they gestured her to come down. Wilhelmina was sure if she could trust them, but she carefully got up and approached the being. She could now see that it was like a female human, she had long, pastel purple hair that curled upwards at the end, gray eyes with cracked irises, and a cloak that covered the rest of her features. "Little one," the voice spoke softly, Wilhelmina looked up at her. "I need to leave, please tend to the wounds on this monster..." She smiled softly, "I hope you won't have much trouble, goodbye." The girl left, leaving Wilhelmina with an injured skeleton she didn't even know. She sighed and started to carefully look for anything to clean and bandage his wounds, Wilhelmina didn't know much, but Toriel was teaching her which herbs would help with different wounds. She started looking through cabinets, eventually, she found some fresh bandages and some alcohol for cleaning wounds. Wilhelmina heard some shifting and looked into the living room to see the skeleton was awake. She made eye contact with him and they both froze, the skeleton seemed to be shocked. She made her way over to him, he seemed to try and back up, but she shook her head, letting him know that she wasn't there to hurt him. He stayed still, Wilhelmina sat next to him, then she hesitantly started to take off his jacket and sweater. Once she did so, she carefully took a washcloth she had found and poured the alcohol on it, then she started to clean the wound.

The skeleton grunted in pain and clenched his teeth, she tried to get as much of the weird purple substance leaking from the wound as possible. Then she moved to his forehead, repeating the process, and then his arm. Then she looked at the spike that was lodged in between two of his ribs, it was digging into them, she had to get it out without hurting him more. Wilhelmina lightly pushed on the spike, earning a whimper from the skeleton. She pulled away and looked down, wondering how she was going to do this properly. The skeleton reached out and pulled her closer, "Get it over with..." He whispered. She carefully closed one of her hands around the spike and started to push it. The skeleton bit his lip and shut his eyes, very slowly, she pushed it out, making sure to stop every few seconds. Once she got it out, she saw the damage that had been done. part of his ribs was cracked and bleeding in the front, but in the back, the spike had broken parts of his ribs off, and it was bleeding very badly. She gasped and covered her mouth, tears filling her eyes. "Hey... Don't cry... I'll be fine... Just clean it up..." She listened to him and started cleaning the wound carefully. He grimaced in pain and buried his head in the couch cushion, Wilhelmina was glad he was holding still while she tended to the wound. She finished and he sat up, she started bandaging all of his wounds. She sighed when she was done, the skeleton put his sweater and hoodie back on. Wilhelmina wanted to ask some questions, but she didn't know if the skeleton knew sign language, and she wasn't very good at it either. "My name is Sans, what's yours?" Wilhelmina signed her name slowly, Sans seemed to understand. "Wilhelmina?" She nodded, he lay down beside her, Wilhelmina wanted to hug or comfort him. She didn't like seeing people hurt, she decided against it and sat there in silence. Sans noticed and sat up, "What's wrong?" Wilhelmina looked at him and shook her head, Sans scooted over to her and put a hand on her shoulder. "If you think I'm going to hurt you, I'm not, you might be a human, but you helped me with my wounds when I was weak. You had the chance to kill me, instead, you helped me, Wilhelmina." She shivered slightly when she heard her name. "I know that some monsters want to kill your kind... I'll protect you..." Wilhelmina nodded and hugged Sans, he stiffened up a little, but he wrapped his arms around her. Wilhelmina wished she could thank him properly, she had just snuck into his home, and now he was offering to protect her from other monsters. She wanted to speak... She felt something that told her to speak... "Thank you..."


	10. Chapter Nine

Papyrus watched as guards walked in, they all lined up and stood there silently. Papyrus sighed, "Is there anything new?" All of the guards nodded, and one of them spoke. "We have found out that your brother is fine...but we have other news." The guard looked at the others and then he continued talking, "We've found out that the Winter Phoenix race is still around, they have been getting materials from the workers of the ruins. They must've had an agreement." Papyrus stood up, "What do these Phoenixes do?" Another guard spoke up, "They have had disagreements with our rules for a long time now, they are peaceful, but they will cause problems with our balance if they continue. We have located their village, it's on the other side of Snowdin forest. What should we do?" Papyrus thought for a moment, anything that is a threat to resources at this point should be dealt with immediately. This kind won't follow the rules that they have been given, and they are rebels. "It's quite simple actually," Papyrus said, a few murmurs were given, he looked down at the guards. "burn them. Burn the village, make sure there are no survivors" The guards recoiled slightly, "But king Papyrus! If we burn their kind it might start rumors!" Papyrus held his hand up, "There is no need to get worked up over this, I can protect myself against anyone who will try to kill me. You have no need to worry, now go." The guards all looked at each other, then they nodded and left. Papyrus looked down, hoping he made the right decision. He heard footsteps and looked up, it was Alphys. It looked like she was walking in as quickly as possible, "K-King Papyrus!" She stumbled up to him, "I have urgent news!" She paused for a second, panting. "I-it's Sans... I lied to the g-guards..." her expression changed, "I didn't mean any insult! I-I just didn't want a-any rumors g-going around..." She sighed, "Sans isn't fine, actually, I have no idea where he really is at the moment... I-I haven't checked his house but I came here to tell you this first. Sans was attacked by a creature that has been in my lab ever since the underground changed. W-well, he w-was... N-nevermind, h-he was j-just attacked. He told m-me to f-find something to k-knock it out. W-when I came b-back all that w-was there was a-a blood splatter..." Papyrus's eyes narrowed, "So you lost my brother to some creature?" Alphys flinched, "I-I'm not saying it ate h-him! I f-found blood droplets n-near the e-entrance of m-my lab..." Papyrus took a step towards Alphys, his eyes glaring at her. "He was wounded, but how badly, Alphys?" Alphys gulped and looked away from his gaze. "I-I didn't see m-much, but h-he had a spike t-through his chest, and a gash on his forehead, arm, and chest..." She looked up at him nervously, Papyrus's gaze hardened. "Alphys, this creature you have is dangerous, get rid of it. The next time I come to your lab I don't want to find it. If I do, I have a jar waiting for you." Papyrus turned away from Alphys and walked away, Alphys fell to the ground, trembling and crying in fear. "W-what am I-I gonna d-do?..."

 _"Decisions..."_

Wilhelmina was panicked, she had fallen asleep and later awoke and found Sans, clutching his chest in pain. He was breathing heavily, and sweat dripped down his forehead. He looked at her, eyes half-lidded. "T-take me, t-to Alphys... Sh-she will h-help.." He grunted his pain and shut his eyes. Wilhelmina's eyes widened. She couldn't bring Sans anywhere, she would be killed! "I-I can't..." She managed to whisper with a pained look on her face. Sans opened his eyes again, looking up at the ceiling. "Y-yes you c-can... I-I know you c-can do i-it Wil..." Sans slowly sat up, supporting himself with the couch. Wilhelmina nodded, she grabbed her cloak and wrapped it around Sans. "G-get on my back..." Wilhelmina crouched in front of him to make it easier. Sans slowly got on her back, wrapping arms around her neck he wasn't that heavy, but she didn't know if her strength would last long enough. Wilhelmina opened the door using one of her hands while the other supported the skeleton on her back. She looked around and saw that it was snowing and windy. She stepped out and made sure there were no monsters around, "Where do I go?" She asked quietly. Sans snuggled into her warm more before responding, "Go left..." Wilhelmina turned and starting running towards another area, once she got there she slowed down a little. It was peaceful here, she pushed her way through some plants and continued down the pathway, Sans gave her directions whenever she came to a path with more than one way. There were things called Echo flowers, as Sans had told her, and another thing called Temmies, which were harmless. There were star-like rocks on the black ceiling of the underground, weird glowing turquoise water, beautiful, glowing yellow stars floating around in certain areas, and the blue ground was quite squishy, sometimes she even had to walk through water. Before she knew it, Wilhelmina was almost to hotland. Wilhelmina spotted two guards sitting around, they didn't look at her, she ran past quickly with her head down. "Hey! What are you doing here?!" One of them said, Wilhelmina stopped, but she didn't turn around, she had to come up with something. "M-my friend... He's s-sick... I-I have to g-get him t-to a person n-named Alphys..." She heard footsteps, her heart was racing, she shivered a little when the guard got in front of her. "YOU'RE A HUMAN!" He yelled and aimed his spear at her neck, her eyes widened. "N-no! Don't k-kill me!" She backed up, she felt Sans shift on her back. "You would really kill a harmless human trying to help a monster?" The guard looked at Sans in shock, "You're the..." Sans scoffed, "Yes I'm the brother of Papyrus, don't kill her... She belongs to me." The guard lowered his head, "Back off." The guard backed off and let Wilhelmina pass, which she did quickly. "How did you do that?" Sans shrugged, "I'm a sentry, right below royal guard, luckily those guards were lower ranks than me, they have to listen to their superior." Wilhelmina hummed and continued walking, she was starting to get really tired, but she knew she could make it. The unbearable warmth of the lava, the cracked, dry ground, and the lack of water was only making it worse. Wilhelmina kept her head down as she passed the monsters, trying to keep as much attention away as possible. By the time the lab was in view, her legs felt like lead and her back ached, sweat was dripping from her forehead. She pulled Sans up more so he wouldn't fall off, then she wiped her face and knocked on the door. She heard some scrambling from inside before someone opened the doors. "O-oh goodness! A-a human?..." Alphys looked confused until Sans peeked out from behind her and the lizard looked at him. "Oh... Come in..." She moved out of the way and allowed Wilhelmina to bring Sans inside. Alphys lead them over to a bed, Wilhelmina carefully slid Sans off of her back and laid him on the bed. He whimpered slightly when Wilhelmina took off the cloak, his jacket, and his sweater. Alphys gasped when Wilhelmina carefully removed the bandages, "I-it must've been p-poisonous!" Sans grimaced in pain, Wilhelmina carefully took his hand and gave him a reassuring smile.

Alphys cleaned the wound, Sans whimpered and buried his head in Wilhelmina's chest. She carefully pets his head to calm him down while Alphys worked, Wilhelmina examined the materials carefully, she wanted to get all the information she could. She had used rubbing alcohol to clean the wound, she smeared some odd herbs on Sans's wound, then she replaced the lost fractured parts with metal, so they could grow back together properly. Finally, Alphys wrapped bandages around the wounds with the metal in place. She finished with the other, more minor, wounds and then she left. Sans snuggled into Wilhelmina's lap, wanting warmth, she smiled and held him close. Alphys returned with water and gave it to Wilhelmina, she carefully let Sans drink the water, once he was finished she returned it to Alphys. He seemed sleepy, Wilhelmina grabbed a blanket and placed it over him, his eyes fluttered shut and Wilhelmina sighed happily. She watched as the skeleton fell asleep on her, Wilhelmina decided she would sleep too, she laid down and held Sans close, falling asleep with Sans in her arms.

 _"A little light"_

Shard ran around, trying to dodge flaming arrows and burning debris, guards had suddenly attacked her home. Everyone scattered in a panic as their homes burned, she saw many already wounded or dead. Her eyes burned, her lungs ached, but she ran to where Mr. Gemstone lived. "Mr. Gemstone!" Shard heard a groan and saw stomach had been pierced by a fallen crystal, his blood was staining the ground. Shard ran over, "Mr. Gemstone! Please stay with me!" She nudged him softly, the old Phoenix smiled weakly at her. "Shard, you know that I won't survive this, but don't fear, I'll be with our ancestors..." With that, the color in his eyes faded, Shard knelt next to his body, sobbing. She heard something and turned around, it was the guards. Shard opened her wings to fly away, but one shot her in the wing, Shard shrieked in pain and fell over on her wounded wing. The guards put a metal collar on her neck, she struggled to break free from it. One of the guards crouched down to her level, "Either you listen to us, or you get killed, alright?" Shard nodded and they started leading her through Snowdin forest, she realized that there were others Phoenixes that had survived, she wanted to cry out with glee. Shard stayed quiet so she wouldn't be killed, there was a male with dark pink designs on his body beside her. She looked at him a little closer and found that he had black feathers, this meant he was already the age where he could get a mate. Shard had only just barely started getting hers, she snapped back into reality when the male looked at her. Shard blinked and looked at one of the guards, they were covered in armor so you couldn't see their features. They took them to a castle, a skeleton stood in the throne room, holding a crushed golden flower in his arms. Once he saw them, he dropped it and walked over. "King Papyrus," the guard bowed, "We have brought you some of the obedient survivors, we made sure to kill any of the weak or the stubborn." The king smiled a dark, crooked smile that had danger all over it. "You are smart, my guards, now sort them by their skills. I'll take care of the rest." Shard shrunk back in fear when his eyes landed on her, his smirk was burning into her mind. He kept eye contact with her as he talked, "Make sure they get whatever they deserve. The king looked away and Shard kept like all of her energy left once he looked away. A guard tugged on her chain connected to her collar, she quickly starting to follow them. Shard kept her eyes on the ground, a little shaken up from the experience. After some testings, all of them were sorted into categories. Shard was going to a phoenix that was only there for being ridden. Specifically just higher ranks like sentries, any royal guard, and the king himself. The guards told her to meet Papyrus at the throne room, Shard arrived and there he was, waiting for her. Shard noticed other Phoenixes walked in and she almost sighed with relief, she wasn't alone. "Now that you are all here, I must tell you. If you break any of our rules without reasoning, you will be executed, understand?" All of them nodded, "Now my servants will lead you to where you shall be staying." Papyrus watched as all of them were taken away, but Shard felt that his eyes mostly fixed on her.


End file.
